Who is André?

Welcome to Africa with André, where we celebrate Africa. One story at a time.

Hi there, and welcome to my podcast. My name is Andre and in this podcast, I'm going to introduce you to friends and colleagues of mine that love Africa or work in one of its countries. I want you to hear their stories. For them to tell you about their experiences, their projects, and about how they have made a difference in the lives of others.

Through this podcast I want to break down the misconceptions and misunderstandings that many people have about Africa. And I want to help you have a positive image of my home continent.

I have worked in the Africa tourism industry for over 25 years, both in South Africa where I was born and grew up, but also in Germany and Switzerland, which is where I live now.

During this time, I've had a number of different jobs in tourism. I've been a waiter, a bus driver and a tour guide. I've been in charge of operations and meetings for special interest groups, which was great fun. And I've led a team doing the reservations for German and Swiss clients, traveling to Southern Africa.

Over the last 15 years, I've been a product manager in international travel companies. That means that my team and I were responsible for finding new hotels, tours, excursions, and activities in 15 countries. We spent time finding these products, evaluating them, maybe even visiting them if we could. To decide if we want to have them in our portfolio so that you can book them for your holiday when you visit your travel agent with your travel dreams.

We've had many conversations over the years, both with guests and travel agents, about spending time in Africa. What they expect it will be like, what they worry about, and what their understanding and image of the continent is.

And there have been some interesting comments or questions, like:

“You don't have real roads in Namibia, do you? I saw some photos that it's nothing like what we have here in Germany.”

- I love this, of comparing everything to what is “normal” in Europe or North America. It's a good thing that Namibia doesn't have an Autobahn and big freeways like they have in Germany. Namibia has a good mix of paved and unpaved roads (dirt roads) which are ecologically more friendly and also get you to your destination.

We really need to stop judging everything by European or north American norms.

Or “why would you go on holiday to Ethiopia? Is there even enough food there for everyone?”

Spoiler alert. It's not the: 1980

Zanzibar on the east coast of Africa has become very popular. And something we hear about there is that people say, “you can't swim in the ocean in Zanzibar. Either the beach is covered by a high tide, or you have to walk so far when it's low tide.”

Yes, the tides in Zanzibar are a constant discussion point because the area does have very high, high tide and very low, low tide on some parts of the coast.

Thankfully we can't change the forces of nature, so we need to embrace the opportunities that brings. I mean, how often do you get a chance to see what the bottom of the ocean looks like? Here you can.

Recently a friend said to me, “there's absolutely no way I'm going on safari. You want me to sleep in a tent? In an area with wild animals? Are you crazy?”

Maybe. It's not the first time someone has called me crazy, but sleeping in a tent on safari? Absolutely. It's definitely not the type of tent you're thinking of from your school days.

And when the conversation turns to visiting South Africa, we get something that's very common, where people still say, “but it's dangerous to travel to South Africa.”

This has been a talking point for decades. At the end of the day, you need to be as careful in South Africa, as I would need to be in New York or Madrid. If I don't know the city, I need to be aware of my surroundings and take care. Personally, I have only ever been mugged in London. So you need to take the same precautions in South Africa, as you do in other popular tourist destinations.

This conversation about the tent accommodation on safari came while I was planning this podcast and my immediate reaction was, “there is so much to do!”

And that is one of the reasons why this has become my motivation in life: to promote Africa from outside Africa. To highlight the positive sides of the continent. To break down the misconceptions and misunderstandings.

This podcast is not about giving you the normal tips of what to do. I'm going to assume that you know, that Cape Town has Table Mountain. Rather it's about conversations that highlight some of the goosebump moments that you could have and to introduce potential new destinations to you. I want to help you understand how a visit to one of Africa's 54 countries is something to be excited about like a five-year-old is in the days before Christmas.

Thank you for being here. I hope that you will join me on our journey through Africa.

And just a quick note at the end, this is a project of love. It's not a job. I choose friends and partners that have stories, which I find interesting and inspiring. And I hope you do too.